Documentary on Cyprus serial killer Metaxas shows impact on society

Four years after the tragic events surrounding the serial killer ‘Orestis’ Metaxas, a documentary is being made to shed light on those affected by his crimes in which the bodies of five foreign women and two children were discovered.

The documentary called ‘Pleiades’ is an independent, true-crime documentary series, that aims to explore how different people experienced the most shocking criminal case in the history of Cyprus. The creators are still currently working on doing a second round of interviews.

“For Livia, Elena, Mary Rose, Sierra, Arian, Asmita and Maricar,” the statement releasing the trailer says, naming Metaxas’ victims.

Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, one of the executive producers Andreas Sheittanis said that the project started mostly out of curiosity.

“But then we found and met the people involved in the case, and learned how it still affects them so many years on,” he said.

He added that the main details of the case are common knowledge but what was not known was the story of the people that dealt with the case and discovery of the bodies.

In the trailer released, many of the well-known figures involved in the case – including the then head of the fire service Marcos Dragolas, journalists, police, divers that searched the lakes for the bodies, and representatives of the foreign communities – all speak about the crime.

Sheittanis said that they want to showcase these stories to show how people were emotionally invested in the story.

“It is also a social responsibility to show society that people were emotionally invested,” he said, adding that the issue is a systemic one that needs to be addressed.

Commenting on the progress being made, he said that they have conducted the first round of interviews, which the trailer is based on, but that they are also interested in doing a second round of interviews.

He invites people that were reluctant to speak to step forward and contact them at [email protected] if they want to get involved.

The story unravelled after the body of Mary Rose Tiburcio, 39, from the Philippines was accidentally discovered on April 14, 2019 in a mine shaft in Mitsero that had flooded following heavy rains.

Arian Palanas Lozano, also from the Philippines 28, was found there a couple of days later.

The third body, that of Asmita Khadka Bista, 30, from Nepal, was found near a firing range in Orounta on April 25, 2019.

Three other bodies, Livia Florentina Bunea, 36, her eight-year-old daughter Elena Natalia Bunea, from Romania, and Maricar Valdez Arquiola, 30, from the Philippines, were found stuffed in suitcases and dumped in the Mitsero red lake.

The last body to be retrieved was that of Tiburcio’s daughter Sierra on July 12, 2019. She had been wrapped in a sheet and thrown into the Xyliatos lake, weighed down by a concrete block.

Nicos Metaxas, who had been contacting the women using the fake name ‘Orestis’, was sentenced in June 2019 to five consecutive life sentences for the premeditated murder of the five women and two concurrent life sentences for the murder of the two girls.

In a statement on social media Andreas said: “The team and myself have put everything into this project, because this is the only way in which we can tell this story correctly and fairly.”

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSNoC0slyzw